Currently, using a tape measure or caliper anthropometer, an examiner has to manually record measurements of human body part dimensions in length as well as in circumference. The measurements are needed in the clothing industry for fitting cloths, in postural screening and in many other aspects of today's health care system and in the fitness industry where the measured body dimensions are used in calculation of body ratios to derive estimation of body composition. There is a need for an improved method and system that allow more efficient measurements of the dimensions of the human body.
A known postural screening method involves a person/patient standing in a framework between a vertical plumb line and a vertically oriented, planar backdrop having a grid-work of vertical and horizontal lines. The medical practitioner performing the screening then observes and measures postural deviations (mal-alignments) of the patient in the frontal plane, sagittal plane and transverse plane relative to the vertical and horizontal lines on the backdrop and the plumb line. The postural deviations observed and measured are then recorded on a postural evaluation chart. The data from the postural evaluation can be input to a computer to aid in analysis in selection of a corrective exercise program, for example. U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,813 discloses such a system and method. A similar method is employed in U.S. Published Patent Application No. US 2007/0083384 A1 where overlays of a vertical line, an orthogonal grid, horizontal reference lines, and indicators are placed on a computer-displayed image of the body to aid posture analysis where external equipment is used initially in obtaining the image.
Drawbacks of the known methods and systems include that taking all the postural deviation measurements can be time consuming and imprecise. In addition, the need for external equipment in the analysis or obtaining the patient image can dictate that the screening must be conducted in a facility having the required framework of vertical backdrop and plumb line or other equipment. There is a need for an improved method and system for measuring anatomical dimensions which overcome these drawbacks and limitations. The present invention addresses this need.
The improved method for measuring the dimensions of the human body of the present invention comprises providing a digital anthropometer on a mobile device, and digitizing anatomical landmarks on a photograph of the human body displayed with established calibration methods for measuring dimensions of the human body. A disclosed embodiment of the system of the invention for practicing the method comprises a programmed device including a digital touch screen display having an array of pixels and a camera for acquiring an image of a person on the digital touch screen display, and means for digitizing anatomical landmarks on an image of a person displayed on the digital touch screen display for measuring dimensions of the human body.
The programmed device in the embodiment is a mobile, hand-held communication device having at least one positional device selected from the group consisting of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a level to level the camera. With the device, the method for measuring includes activating the at least one positional device and using an output thereof for leveling the camera before capturing the image.
The display screen is a touch screen for the purpose to quickly identify coordinates of the selected anatomical landmarks of the body image displayed on the screen, e.g. to digitize the anatomical landmarks for calculation of linear distances by the programmed computer of the device. These features advantageously reduce the time for measuring the dimensions and the accuracy, without the need for external equipment or special facilities.
The disclosed system further includes means for making an anatomical-prediction using the measured dimensions and a known morphological relationship. Known mathematical formulae expressed in the computer program of the device relate the measured dimensions to the anatomical prediction. According to an aspect of the invention, the anatomical prediction includes at least one of circumference and volume of a body part which may be displayed on the display screen. In one disclosed embodiment the anatomical prediction is a clothing measurement selected from the group consisting of neck, overarm, chest, waist, hips, sleeve and outseam. According to another embodiment the anatomical prediction is a body composition. In a further embodiment a postural displacement is predicted from the measured dimensions and known morphological relationship.
Thus, in use of the system the present invention includes a method of deriving an anatomical prediction using a known morphological relationship and a programmed apparatus including a digital touch screen display and means for acquiring an image of a person on the digital touch screen display, the method comprising acquiring an image of a person on the digital touch screen display, digitizing points on a plurality of anatomical landmarks on the displayed image, determining linear anatomical dimensions of the person's body using the digitized points and a scale factor for the displayed image, and making an anatomical prediction using the determined linear anatomical dimensions and a known morphological relationship. In one embodiment the anatomical prediction is a clothing measurement. In another embodiment the anatomical prediction is body composition. In a further embodiment the anatomical prediction includes at least one of circumference and volume of a body part. In a still further embodiment the anatomical prediction is a postural displacement.
In the disclosed embodiments, the method further comprises acquiring at least two different views of the person as images on the digital touch screen display, digitizing points on anatomical landmarks on each displayed image and determining linear anatomical dimensions of the person's body using the digitized points and a scale factor for each displayed image for making the anatomical prediction. In the disclosed embodiments the views acquired include at least a front view and a side view of the person.
An embodiment of the invention particularly relating to measuring dimensions for postural screening is disclosed but is understood as instructure with respect to the other embodiments disclosed herein taken with the additional disclosure relating to each of the other embodiments.
The improved postural screening method according to the example embodiments of the present invention comprises acquiring an image of a patient on a display screen having an array of pixels, determining a pixel to distance ratio for the displayed image, and calculating a postural displacement of the patient in the displayed image using the determined ratio. The standing framework of vertical backdrop and plumb line or overlaid grid-work of lines of the prior art are not necessary. According to the disclosed method, a known linear distance in the displayed image and the number of display screen pixels spanning the distance are used in determining pixel to distance ratio. The known linear distance in an example embodiment is the height of the patient. Alternately, or in addition as a secondary calibration, a marked distance can be provided in the acquired image of the patient, as by the use of a meter stick in the image or other markings of a known distance apart, to provide a known linear distance.
The postural screening method in example embodiments further includes scaling the size of the image relative to the display screen to normalize the known linear distance in the image to a display screen reference distance corresponding to a known number of pixels for determining the pixel to distance ratio. According to a disclosed method, at least one reference line is provided over the displayed image to demark the display screen reference distance.
The method as disclosed herein further includes displaying a reference line overlaid on the screen providing vertical, horizontal and center references, providing a corresponding reference line anchored to the displayed patient's image, and adjusting the image in the display so that the two reference lines are aligned before determining the pixel to distance ratio.
The patient's image can be acquired by accessing a database. Alternatively, the person performing the screening can operate an image capture device of a camera for acquiring the image of the patient. The method preferably includes leveling the image capture device before capturing the image from which the pixel to distance ratio is to be determined for eliminating distortion. According to the example embodiments, the image capture device and display screen are part of a mobile, hand-held communication device having at least one positional device selected from the group consisting of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a level. The method includes activating the at least one positional device and using an output thereof to provide a reference for leveling the image capturing device.
In disclosed embodiments, the method further includes displaying a reference line on the display screen over the acquired image, performing panning to center the image on the screen, and performing zooming to fit the image in the reference line before determining the pixel to distance ratio. Still further, the method comprises providing anatomical landmarks on the acquired image of the patient to facilitate calculating a postural displacement. The display screen is a touch screen for this purpose to identify coordinates for calculation of postural displacements by the programmed computer of the mobile, hand-held communication device.
A system for performing postural screening according to the invention comprises means for acquiring an image of a patient on a display screen having an array of pixels, means for determining a pixel to distance ratio for the displayed image and means for calculating a postural displacement of the patient in the displayed image using the determined ratio. The means for acquiring an image of a patient according to an example embodiment includes an image capture device of the mobile, programmed, hand-held communication device. Preferably, the device includes at least one positional device selected from the group consisting of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a level which provides a reference for leveling the image capturing device. The system further includes means for panning a displayed image on the screen to center the image on the screen, and means for zooming to fit a displayed image in a reference line on the display screen. Means are provided for displaying at least one reference line over the displayed image to demark a display screen reference distance corresponding to a known number of pixels for determining the pixel to distance ratio.
The system of the disclosed embodiments further includes means for displaying a reference line overlaid on the screen providing vertical, horizontal and center references, means for displaying a corresponding reference line anchored to the displayed patient's image, and means for aligning image and display screen reference lines before determining the pixel to distance ratio. The system further includes means for providing anatomical landmarks on the acquired image of the patient to facilitate calculating a postural displacement.
The present invention further includes a machine-readable medium containing at least one sequence of instructions that, when executed, causes a machine to: calculate at least one postural displacement of a patient from a displayed image of the patient on a display screen having an array of pixels, using a determined pixel to distance ratio for the displayed image.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of example embodiments taken with the accompanying drawings.